I graduated from college just over a year ago, and I’m finally living in a place where I plan to stay for more than just a nine-month lease. Better yet, I’m allowed to paint and replace things within the apartment. Needless to say, I’m excited to be trying new decorations and renovations after several years of boring, apartment-white walls. I constantly have a project I’m working on, whether it’s finding new furniture or painting a room.

Luckily, I’ve found a number of quality applications to help out along the way as I work to improve my home. I have a few folders on my iPad dedicated to apps related to home improvement in some way. I’ve got apps to help find inspiration, choose paint colors, furnish my apartment and even DIY dedicated applications. There are a huge variety of home improvement apps out there — stick with me after the jump to read up on some of my favorite apps.

Summertime is great. Whether you enjoy the sunshine by the beach, camp out in the middle of nowhere, or just catch some rays at home, summer is meant to be enjoyed outdoors. One of the best ways to enjoy the summer sun is with a good, old-fashioned, backyard BBQ.

If the thought of firing up the grill and planning a cookout overwhelms you, have no fear. There are tons of iPad apps that are perfect to help you with both planning and executing your next outdoor eating adventure. The apps range from recipe planners and finders, to cooking tools, to apps that can keep you entertained while you slave over the hot grill. Read on to learn about some of the many applications that are handy to have on hand when you prepare your next BBQ. (more…)

The iPad is a fantastic tool for the world of education. I have used mine to track assignments, take notes, record lectures, read and annotate textbooks, study for exams, do research and much more. Now that I have graduated, however, it is time to put my iPad to new use as I look into graduate school – studying for the GRE.

As I began my search for apps to utilize for this purpose, I began to wonder what kind of apps existed for all the various standardized tests that we might encounter. This round-up contains some of my findings – a list of some apps designed for specific tests as well as some apps for more general preparation. Read on to learn about some of the best apps that I found.

There is an incredible range of drawing apps available for the iPad. Some apps have just a few color choices and one drawing tool while others are full of tools, making for essentially limitless possibilities. I have tried out a lot of these applications in the few years that I’ve owned an iPad and while the feature-filled applications are often my choice, at times I just want a simpler app.

Autodesk’s newest application, Sketchbook Ink, has helped to meet that desire. Sketchbook Ink is a vector-based drawing application in which you have access to 7 different pens and all the colors you can think of. It’s definitely a simpler application, but I’m really enjoying it so far. Read on to learn more about the app and what I think about it.

I’ve always been a board game fan, so it makes sense that a large number of applications on my iPad are board games. I didn’t get to take many board games with me when I moved to California, so my iPad has really been serving as a replacement for a lot of those games. I enjoy playing the games on my own or with a friend or two. It’s a great device for these games and there are a lot of quality apps out there for playing board games.

I’ve put together a list of my 11 favorite board games. Some are just single games that stand on their own, others are collections of simpler but classic games. Stick with me after the jump to find out what my favorites are.

We’ve all been there. Writer’s block, designer’s block, whatever sort of mental block, we’ve all experienced it. Perhaps you’re feeling unmotivated. You might be afraid to take the next step, or maybe you’re just not sure what the right decision is and so you’re not moving forward.

Whatever the reason, we’ve all had a moment where we’re just feeling very stuck. For those moments, Unstuck is the app for you. Unstuck aims to help you uncover the reason that you’re feeling stuck in that moment through a series of questions and decisions. After discovering the reason you’re stuck, it takes you through one of several exercises to help you find whatever it is that you need to move past that moment.

Unstuck is an incredible and free application. Whatever the reason is that you’re feeling stuck, Unstuck will be able to help you out. Read on for a more detailed description, a sample exercise and some thoughts on the app.

Ever find yourself in need of some great artistic inspiration – find Google images really isn’t cutting it for you? Need a great image for that project you’re working on? Sites abound online for discovering photography. The iPad, however, remains one of my favorite photo discovery devices. Stay tuned for some great applications for finding that perfect photo!

Amongst the plethora of painting and drawing apps found in the App Store, it’can be hard to find one that stands out. Apps tend to have a very similar feature set, and the same final product can really be achieved in any of the apps.

I’ve tried a shockingly large number of these apps myself, but always found myself staying away from using my iPad as a canvas. One day, I saw a new app called Art Rage. This port of a desktop app not only boasts most of the features found in other painting and drawing apps, but it also claimed to understand the wetness, thickness, and metallic qualities of various paints, as well as how the different tools would effect them. I was instantly intrigued, and knew that Art Rage was an app I definitely had to try.

While I’m extremely grateful that Apple has slowly but surely been improving their album features in the photo app, I’m definitely not yet satisfied.

As a scenic and production designer, the first part of my job inevitably consists of a lot of visual research. When I first got my iPad, I knew that I had a great new way to present this research, but the photos app just never seemed like a good, professional way in which to showcase pictures.

I embarked on a several month long journey to find a stellar album app, and Collections for iPad was definitely the best that I found. This feature-rich app allows a user to create a fully customizable album for any purpose, and creates a great final product.

Read on to find out whether this could be the solution you’ve been searching for!

I am a board game fiend. When most kids were playing video games and watching TV, my family was having board game championships. We would dig out all of our favorites, and crown an overall champ. Now that I’m a college graduate, I don’t get quite as many chances to play board games.

I don’t get to go home and visit and spend hours with my mom reconnecting and playing Parcheesi. That means, that when I find a great board game app for my iPad, I’m in Heaven. That’s definitely the case with my new favorite, Ticket to Ride. Read on to find out more …